Hello everyone, my name is Lorella, or simply Lora. 

I meant to post this note when I first uploaded this, but it totally slipped my mind until now, so I'm going to post it, well now.

When I first started writing Starry Eyed, maybe even before I started writing, I knew it would get hate. Of course I haven't got any hate as of now, but the story is just in the beginning, there is still so much left to go, but I knew it would get hate. I wanted Starry Eyed to be as realistic as possible, meaning here are real-world problems and situations mentioned. So before I go on about those problems, I should probably mention something.

I grew up in what is commonly referred to as the 'ghetto'. There were break ins and robberies all over my neighborhood, and there was even a shooting at the gas station not even a mile away from where I live. A lot of Starry Eyed is based off of the town I live in. Where I live, there are a variety of people, white, black, Mexican, you name it. I grew up with a lot of prejudiced and racism all around me. 

Now, my mom is from upper New York and a very religious family, so I lived a pretty sheltered life. My mom wanted to shelter all her kids from the horrors of the world, and she did a pretty good job. Too good, in fact. When I got into high school, it was nothing like the movies I watched. I wasn't prepared in the slightest. Racism was a common thing where I went to high school, people often commented that because I'm white, I had money. (Fun fact, like Hallie, my family comes from Venezuela, so I'm technically not white) I grew up in a three bedroom house with five siblings, the three boys shared a room, and us three girls shared a room. Sometimes we didn't have enough money to pay rent and supply food in the house so we ate the bare minimum and survived off of it. We didn't really get a Christmas and when we did it was usually very few presents. We had to get a job as soon as we were able to in order to help my mom, who raised all five of us by herself. My mother worked the graveyard shift as nurse and when she was home, she had a tendency to drink. (You can see where I get a lot of the inspiration for Hallie from, right?) What I'm trying to get at here, it that nothing is perfect. I didn't want to create a story where a girl has a decent life and find a nice guy and falls in love. No. I wanted a realistic story, one with pain and heartbreak and denial. It's hard to fall into this world where you think everything is perfect even when things are far from it.

Now, I want to get to the point that I originally wanted to say.... the N-word. This very specific word, you all know the one I am talking about, it the subject for a lot of topics. Who should and shouldn't say it? That is one of the many questions that is asked. I have read a elect few of stories with this word in it and in the comments is just a bunch of shit because a good few of these writers are white. Where I grew up, everyone said the N-word, no matter the color of their skin. It was common, because of where I lived and went to school. While it is going to be rare, my characters will say it, characters of all skin colors, and because I'm "white" (Latina), I already know I'm gonna get a shit-ton of hate for it. But it's realistic, I'm sorry but it is. If you don't like it, then by all means, leave. The exit button is usually in the top left that I am aware of... 

I just wanted to let everyone know, to give everyone a warning. I'm sorry in advance if it upsets you, but it is ow it is.

Much love,

Lora